Still glowing with happiness from our first encounter with the amazing gorillas as the next day dawned we were really looking forward to visiting another family.......Our second gorilla trek actually left from the Buhoma park headquarters just down the road. We started our trek by walking through the village we had visited on the first day then we walked up the mountain behind through the banana, tea and coffee plantations and into the community dual use or buffer zone land which abuts the national park. We climbed and climbed and climbed approximately 3km to the top of the mountain and over the other side into the National Park. There was a well defined track, making the going pretty easy at that point but it was still pretty hard work because of the steep and constant climb. The trackers got word to us that they had located the gorillas but they were still a fairly long way away…..so we kept trekking, often times with our guides cutting trails through the thick forest up and down very step terrain but through some of the most beautiful and dense forest I have ever seen. Our guide was great, stopping for frequent rests and only going at the pace of the slowest person in the group. We continued like this for another 4 hours or so before finally getting the word that the gorillas were very close and that we should leave our bags, get out our camera gear and move forward to meet the Rushegura family.
Te Rushegura family was made up of 16 individuals. However, they had split into two groups that morning after a fight with another family and everyone had scattered. The black back (or second in command) had taken half the family to another area and we had found the silverback and the remainder of the family. There was talk that probably the family was likely to split permanently soon with the black back becoming a silverback and retaining part of the family and creating a new group. The silverback had a few wounds from that morning’s fight but everyone seemed calm and were feeding happily. There was a female with an infant of just a few days old and the tenderness with which she cradled the baby in her arms was so sweet. This family was feeding and so moving through the forest, seemingly very slowly but it was quite a struggle to keep up! For such huge animals they move through this incredibly thick forest with such swiftness and ease, it really is very impressive.
The Silverback feeding. You can see some old wounds on his shoulder and face.
A close up portrait of the gorgeous silverback.
Delicately munching some delicious leaves!
One of the sub-adults gazing into the trees.
What seemed likely very shortly afterwards our time was up (and we had strayed to within close vicinity of the border with the DRC and our guides were a bit nervous!) and we headed back to our bags. Only then did we realize how exhausted we were! We all had lunch, sharing food and water with the porters, guides and trackers and rested before slowly heading back down the mountain. Much quicker going down but very hard on the knees, back and ankles! All in all it took about 7.5hrs and we were done for but very very happy!!
I cannot describe the wonder of seeing the amazing Mountain Gorillas in their own wild habitat and being able to spend some time with these gentle and beautiful giants. Although costly we felt it was worth every penny and more, especially because a lot of the money goes into conservation. This really seems to be paying off with a doubling in population in the last 10-20 years. The local community also benefits significantly from the people coming to see the gorillas. They locals we talked to really appreciated the benefits brought by the gorillas and recognise their importance and the need to protect them. This was very heartening for the future.
The gorilla tracking certainly involves some strenuous hiking but for us this was part of the fun and adventure and we loved this part of the experience too. The forest is very beautiful and you really see what the Gorilla's environment is like and see them as they truly are. I wont downplay the level of physical effort involved, the mountains are very steep and the forest very thick, the terrain sometimes very trecherous, it can be hot, humid, wet, muddy but it is still wonderful and leaves you with a real sense of achievement at the end! Visiting the Mountain Gorillas is something that no one I have talked to who has done it regrets; despite it being expensive, time consuming and challenging to get there and can be hard going physically, in fact for most it is truly one of the most wonderful and memorable moments of their life, us included.